Monday, 14 July 2014

I've been very neglectful of blogging lately but I will explain why later in the post. Right now I owe all the participants and readers of the second annual "My Country blog Hop" a followup giveaway. I was touched by all of the response to my blog hop and there was such enthusiasm that I feel sure |I will continue it again next year. I've entered all the names of the participants and other blog readers into random.org to choose the winner. And the winner is.....Dini of angazabychanges.blogspot.nl. Please send me your postal address, Dini and I'll send these Canadian earrings off to you. Congratulations, my friend!

Since the blog hop and while participating in a couple of others I've gradually changed direction in my studio. I feel like I've dropped off the jewelry making world and landed in p.c. heaven. I've been dabbling in polymer on and off for the last year but have just recently become completely immersed in it. All thanks to Ginger of The Blue Bottle Tree who has put together the most fabulous tutorials on creating with pc.

This is the one I've been playing with and it's great.Clear, step by step instructions and many,many colour photographs of every step and lots of inspirational ones to spark your own creativity. I have bought a few tutorials but this one is by far the best. If you're thinking of exploring polymer clay any of her tutorials would be a good place to start. I have multiple beads and pendants at various stages of development but none are yet ready for public viewing. Soon........!

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Welcome to "My Country Blog Hop" hosted by yours truly. 25 participants from all over the world will write a blog post featuring little known facts about their country and also show an artistic creation that was inspired by their country.
I created this event to connect with artists and bloggers worldwide who are happy to share their home with others. Last year was the first time I did this and it was lots of fun so I decided to repeat it. I hope you enjoy!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Today is a holiday in Canada to celebrate the birthday of this fabulous country and I am sharing it with all of you. I hope you enjoy what you see and learn about my "home and native land". There will be a lot of links for you to click on if your interested because I didn't want to make this post too lengthy.
To many Americans and others we are that cold and snowy country at the top of the map where we all speak French and grow "Biebers"(LOL). But there is much more to Canada than that. Yes we have snow and cold but we also have thousands of fresh water lakes ( the largest area of freshwater in the world) and gorgeous summers to enjoy these lakes.

Lake Superior

Kayaking

Fishing in Ontario

The lakes are so huge that when my English friends were visiting the 14 year old thought the shore of Lake Ontario was the seaside!

I guess size is relative but we are a very big country. second largest by land mass after China! It's our population that makes us seem small compared to the rest of the world. According to Wikipedia we are the most sparsely populated country in the world! Lots of room for everybody who wants to visit and even stay. If you are considering immigrating you won't be alone. Canada is one of most diverse countries in the world with representatives of every ethnicity and culture .

Gosh , I sound like a saleswoman for Canada and have just realized I could go on for hours telling you all the great things but that's not why you're here. I hope the above information opened your eyes to some of what makes up this great country and inspires you to look into more when you have the time.

With so many national characteristics I was stymied about what to create. I have been having great fun lately playing with polymer clay and the vignette below shows just a few of our national icons. (remember I'm just a polymer clay newbie!)( The curling rocks are lamp work beads from Glass Bead Art)

I had a lot of fun creating these animals. Hope you get a kick out of them!

I just had to make some Canuck jewelry so here it is . I worked long and hard to make a maple leaf out of polymer clay and this is the best I could come up with. (really steep learning curve with pc.). I'm also on a roll experimenting with waxed Irish linen thread and tried hand knotting to make this illusion style necklace in Canada's national colors.

A couple of months ago I won the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge and received some of Mary Harding's wonderful ceramics. She very nicely made me these little maple leaf charms which I hung from sterling ear threads. They are super comfortable and look really cute on.

That's the end of my contribution to this blog hop. Please go to the blogs listed below to see what all the other participants created. Comments left on my blog will be entered in a draw for something Canadian! (I haven't decided yet what it will be. Any requests? Mention in your comment and I'll see what I can do.)Hostess: Nan Smith (Canada) wirednan.blogspot.ca 1. Ana (Portugal) http://acbeads.blogspot.ca/ 2.Rita (Orlando) http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/

I'm going!

2015 Polymer Clay Challenge

About Me

I discovered jewelry design after trying out a few crafts including. bead stringing but when I discovered wirework there was no going back and from there I have moved on to working with wire and metal in most of my creations. My aim is to create unique jewelry which reflects my artistic vision. Now that I have retired I can spend all of time creating jewelry art.